Trial reportTrials2016
Impact of the condolence letter on the experience of bereaved families after a death in intensive care: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Trials, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02325297 ("Impacts of the Letter of Condolence to the Bereaved Families Experience After a Death in ICU " - Study Famirea 22), which is not on this map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
"Impacts of the Letter of Condolence to the Bereaved Families Experience After a Death in ICU " - Study Famirea 22
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Questions to improve family-staff communication in the ICU: a randomized controlled trial.Intensive care medicine · 2018Trial
- Effect of a condolence letter on grief symptoms among relatives of patients who died in the ICU: a randomized clinical trial.Intensive care medicine · 2017Trial
- Identification and validation of end-of-life nursing care competencies for Kenyan nurses: A modified Delphi technique.Canadian oncology nursing journal = Revue canadienne de nursing oncologique · 2025Article
- Dying in acute hospitals: voices of bereaved relatives.BMC palliative care · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAs intensive care mortality is high, end of life is a subject of major concern for intensivists. In this context, relatives are particularly vulnerable and prone to post-ICU syndrome, in the form of high levels of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, and complicated grief. Grieving families suffer from a feeling of abandonment and evoke the need to get back in touch with the team to ask questions and remove doubts, but very few actually do. Aiding families during the grieving process is an important aspect of palliative care. A condolence letter represents an opportunity to recognize the pain of the family member and the strong tie that linked the family member to the ICU team, and to offer additional information if necessary. The goal of the study is to measure the impact of the condolence letter on the experience of bereaved families after a death in the ICU. Our hypothesis is that a post-death follow-up in the form of a condolence letter sent by the ICU physician who was in charge of the patient may help to reduce the risks of presenting symptoms of anxiety/depression, post-traumatic stress, and complicated grief. METHODS/
designThis is a randomized, controlled, multicenter study. Research will compare two groups of bereaved family members: one group that does not receive a condolence letter (control) and one group that receives a condolence letter 15 days after the death (intervention). Each of the 22 participating centers will include 12 relatives. Participating relatives will be followed up by phone with a call at 1 month and one at 6 months to complete questionnaires, permitting evaluation of post-ICU burden. The main outcome is anxiety and depression measured at 1 month. Other outcomes include evaluation of quality of dying and death, post-traumatic stress, and complicated grief. DISCUSSION: This study will allow us to assess if sending a condolence letter can reduce the risks of presenting symptoms of anxiety and depression, complicated grief, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder after the death of a loved one in the ICU.
trial registrationCLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION NUMBER: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02325297 (23 December 2014).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.